


Soft Reset

by SpyroTF



Series: Better Choices (Vader Lives AU) [3]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Anakin Skywalker And His Brobots, Darth Vader Lives, Darth Vader Redemption, Drama, Droid Psychology, Family Drama, Feels, Gen, Post-RotJ, Some Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-04
Updated: 2020-08-04
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:00:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,471
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25165069
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpyroTF/pseuds/SpyroTF
Summary: Post-ROTJ, Vader lives AU. After noticing that R2-D2 seems to share a strange personal connection with Vader, C-3PO decides to visit the former Sith Lord in search of some answers.
Relationships: C-3PO & Anakin Skywalker, C-3PO & Darth Vader
Series: Better Choices (Vader Lives AU) [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1652098
Comments: 31
Kudos: 220





	Soft Reset

**Author's Note:**

> I know that C-3PO is probably the least popular main-cast character in Star Wars, and I wouldn’t call him one of my absolute favorites either… but you know, after watching The Clone Wars and rewatching the original trilogy, I’ve somehow grown to really appreciate him. After all, he does have a special bond with Anakin, which is often underrepresented in fic, so I decided to give it some attention in my AU. It was a fun challenge to try and get into his head, and I hope you enjoy the result!
> 
> Huge thanks to my beta, ThreadSketchier!

_Home_ wasn’t something C-3PO could ever claim to understand. Oh, he knew what the word _meant_ , of course, and could readily provide its exact definition as well as various equivalents in more than six million forms of communication, if so asked. But its true meaning—all the intricate connotations that living beings were so fond of attaching to almost every lexical unit—naturally eluded him. 

And how could it not? After all, droids didn’t have a home. True, it was not uncommon for them to belong to a particular household, where they were quite often regarded as full-fledged family members—and yet the right to have a home, a _real_ home, was reserved only for creatures of flesh and blood. Creatures who were actually born to their parents and raised among their kind; not created on the assembly line and put in service with a predetermined designation.

However, as depressing as the idea might have sounded from an outside perspective, it wasn’t something C-3PO ever felt bad about, or even gave much thought to. It simply was a fact of the universe as he knew it, as indisputable as the claim that space was cold, and so he didn’t see much sense in doing anything other than accepting it for what it was.

And yet—for a reason he himself couldn’t quite explain—in those past few weeks following the formation of the New Republic, he’d felt more _at home_ than ever before in the last four years. Between attending various social meetings, performing his duties as a translator and generally aiding in reestablishing diplomatic relations with systems all across the galaxy, C-3PO fell into a familiar and predictable routine, so reminiscent of his previous life in service of the Organa family—which, perhaps, contributed to that strange yet familiar feeling.

It was a comfortable, stable existence; one that finally relieved him from having to worry that tomorrow he might suddenly find himself in the middle of another grand space misadventure. And even though some small part of him _did_ miss being dragged into grand space misadventures, he would never admit as much to anyone else—especially R2-D2, knowing for sure that this would encourage the little astromech in all the wrong ways. All in all, this was perhaps the most content and satisfied C-3PO had felt ever since that fateful day on _the_ _Tantive IV_ , and there was very little souring his day-to-day experience.

Except, of course, a certain former Dark Lord.

Most people around seemed to have come to terms with the fact that the Empire’s most fearsome enforcer somehow became an element of their everyday life, and while his presence still made plenty of them wary and uncomfortable, almost none appeared to be downright scared of him anymore. But most people also hadn’t had the displeasure of being torn apart by hostile Imperial forces and only narrowly escaping subsequent disintegration. Even though Vader hadn’t been directly involved in what had happened to C-3PO on Bespin, everything that’d transpired there had done so according to his endorsement; and so the droid found himself constantly wrestling with a distinct feeling of terror whenever the former Sith was nearby—a feeling that, in his opinion, was completely justified.

To Vader’s credit, so far he hadn’t displayed any malicious intent towards C-3PO or otherwise deliberately hindered his existence. In fact, they hadn’t even done as much as talked to each other yet, with Vader clearly exhibiting no interest in ever interacting with the droid, and C-3PO in turn doing his best to avoid Vader in any given situation. All the previous encounters with the former Dark Lord were still too fresh in his memory, and the droid was firm in his belief that allowing Vader anywhere near other sentients and droids was a prime example of a horrible mistake that would one day doom them all.

Which was why C-3PO currently found himself wondering if he had gone insane due to some unexpected error in his programming, now that he was about to meet with Vader one on one.

Standing in front of closed doors, it was his third time attempting to make it past them in the last few minutes. Not that he was having any technical difficulties doing so—that was just how many times he’d found a convenient excuse to walk away, and a convincing enough reason to go back. Now, however, C-3PO was certain he would not turn away in fear again. This time, he would muster every ounce of courage he had, and finally do what he had come here for. And even if this was how he would get to meet his unfortunate end, at least he would not go down in history as a coward.

With that thought, the droid took his final step forward as the doors hissed and slid open before him.

Knowing that the room was supposed to serve as the former Sith’s personal mechanical workshop, C-3PO was surprised to discover that it looked… exactly like one. Upon stepping inside, he had expected to be greeted with heaps of gruesomely dismembered droid bodies or other things that would somehow allude to the sinister nature of the local inhabitant. And yet, much to his relief, he could see nothing of the sort. In fact, the room appeared to be nothing if not painfully mundane, with a couple of typical workbenches standing in the back and various mechanic tools hanging on the walls. Aside from that, most of the space in the middle was occupied by a half-assembled speeder (although a pessimist like C-3PO would probably have described it as ‘half-dismantled’). Sitting on a bench next to it was Vader; turned sideways to the droid, he was busy fiddling around with the craft’s exposed engine, a hydrospanner in his hand.

So far Vader seemed unaware of his unexpected visitor, but C-3PO knew better than to underestimate the former Dark Lord who surely must have already noticed his presence. He also knew that Vader did not tolerate his time being wasted, and so the sooner he would cut to the chase, the higher were his chances of success.

Then again, Vader also tended to express great displeasure at being distracted, as far as C-3PO was concerned. So maybe it would be better to simply wait until he was done with whatever he was doing? It would take more time, of course, but could potentially save C-3PO from Vader’s anger at ruining his concentration. Or, perhaps, he should just stick to his original plan after all and...

The droid jumped when Vader suddenly broke the silence, sparing him further throes of uncertainty.

“What is it?” he growled impatiently.

It took C-3PO a few seconds, but eventually he did manage to suppress the urge to turn away and bolt straight for the doors (all despite being physically unable to do anything even vaguely resembling bolting).

“Ah, greetings...” he started, only to stop and wonder, distressfully, what polite form of address would be appropriate here. Somehow, both ‘Mr. Vader’ and ‘Mr. Skywalker Senior’ felt equally wrong (and thus potentially dangerous) to use, so he decided to go with the most neutral option he could think of. “...greetings, sir. I am terribly sorry for intruding on you when you’re busy, but it really is difficult to get a hold of you these days, so I figured it would be best if I simply visited you at your... place of residence.”

The droid paused, half-expecting to be flung against the nearest wall at this point, but the former Sith still seemed fully absorbed in his work, which made C-3PO feel slightly relieved. Maybe he _could_ do it and stay in one piece after all.

“As for the reason of my visit,” he went on, growing bolder, “it has to do with something I’ve come to notice during the past few weeks. It all began when I first saw you and Artoo engage in an active conversation, which then carried on for quite some time. Back then I considered it to be a one-time occurrence, but it proceeded to happen more and more frequently whenever you two met in public. And while I assure you that I absolutely did not mean to eavesdrop, I couldn’t help but catch some bits and pieces of your conversations as they happened. Much to my surprise, I discovered that there was a surprising degree of… familiarity between both of you, especially from your side. Not only did you always refer to Artoo by his nickname instead of his factory designation, but, judging by your replies, you seemed to follow every word of what he was saying—and frankly, I found it fascinating, since I’d never seen a human so fluent in binary before, and…”

C-3PO faded off as he watched Vader put the hydrospanner aside and slowly rise to his full imposing height.

“Get to the point, droid,” he rumbled, turning his mask in C-3PO’s direction.

“Right, yes, of course. So as I was saying—” he took a step back as Vader walked up closer to him, “—it appeared to me as if you and Atroo were somehow personally familiar with each other, which struck me as most perplexing, but when I eventually decided to confront him on the subject, he… well, he told me to go and ask _you_ instead. Naturally, I told him that he was quite mad, and dismissed the idea at first—I mean—well, I mean no offence, but you—”

Vader silently crossed his arms over his chest.

“—yes, getting to the point. You see, I remember Artoo for as long as I can remember myself, and while he certainly has the predisposition and skills for it, I am fairly sure he is not a former Imperial spy, otherwise I definitely would’ve known that something was amiss. But, that leaves open the question of how you both became acquainted without me ever remembering about it. So, I have given it some thought, and now I find myself wondering if… if, perhaps, my memories are somehow incomplete.”

And there it was; the crux of C-3PO’s entire predicament. Indeed, after much contemplation he saw no other explanation for the things he had witnessed, and his only chance of establishing the truth somehow came to lie with Vader. C-3PO knew the former Sith to be many things—perhaps even _too_ many—but liar wasn’t one of them. Whatever answer Vader would give him, it would have to be truthful; and so he waited in anticipation, hoping that the answer _would_ actually come.

Finally, after some seemingly deep consideration, Vader decided to provide him with one—and yet it still managed to astonish the droid nonetheless.

“It is true. Your memory appears to have been wiped at some point in the past, approximately twenty-three years ago.”

“Twenty-three years?!” C-3PO exclaimed, throwing his hands up in shock. “Oh my goodness! I can’t believe this! I… I thought Artoo and I were _assembled_ twenty-three years ago!”

“No. Artoo's actual age is nearly double the amount, while you are younger by perhaps a decade.”

After the brief displeasure at the revelation that he was, in fact, _less_ mature than the wayward astromech, C-3PO’s attention was drawn to Vader’s choice of words. _Younger._ Living beings rarely used words like these towards droids, preferring to say ‘newer’ or ‘more recent’ instead. Such an emotionally charged term indeed implied a strong personal connection… and raised yet even more suspicions.

“Sir, if I may ask—how do you know all of this?” C-3PO enquired warily. “It is obvious that you and Artoo have some history together, but are you… did you and I used to know each other as well?”

It took Vader several breathing cycles to reply. “That… is irrelevant.”

Even though C-3PO somehow very much doubted that, he decided it would be wiser not to push his luck any further than necessary.

“I see,” he said and nodded in acknowledgement. “Well, I suppose I did get some of the answers I was looking for. Enough to put my processor at ease, in any case.” The droid paused, contemplating where he should go from there. “Perhaps I could look through some of the older Republic databanks to see if any of them mention my name, now that they’re declassified. Maybe it would shed some light on the contents of these lost memories, seeing as there’s no other way of getting them back.”

Lost in thought, C-3PO staggered in surprise when Vader’s tall form suddenly came towards him, covering the distance between them in a few long strides.

“Why would you wish to have your memories back?” he asked sharply.

Confused, C-3PO tilted his head to one side. “Why wouldn’t I, sir?” he asked back.

“Memories are nothing but useless remnants of past tragedies and failings,” Vader growled with absolute conviction, stabbing a finger at him. “You are fortunate enough to be relieved of this burden.”

“But how can they be useless,” said C-3PO, genuinely puzzled, “if they help us learn from experience so that we can prevent similar tragedies and failings from happening in the future?”

For a moment the former Dark Lord fell silent, almost as if he hadn’t expected to be challenged on his words.

“Besides,” the droid added, taking advantage of the pause, “while I fully support the notion that the universe is entirely too profuse in unfortunate mishaps, it is extremely uncommon for an individual to have only negative experiences in their life, and, as such, to retain only negative memories.”

This time, Vader retorted immediately, albeit calmer than before. “Even the most pleasant of them serve only to tease us with promises of what could have been.”

“I’m afraid I’ll have to respectfully disagree, sir,” said C-3PO, shaking his head. “Pleasant or not, memories actually serve a much larger purpose, aside from the one I already mentioned. Namely, they are key to forming a person’s identity. That is true even for droids, whose programmed personality often changes under the influence of acquired memories.”

There was another silence as the former Sith turned his mask to the side. When he spoke up again, his voice was the quietest C-3PO had ever heard. “You speak of things beyond your understanding.”

A second later, Vader’s attention was once again drawn to the droid as C-3PO nodded in agreement.

“Perhaps you are right, sir. I suppose I do.” He paused, and then said in earnest, ”But I wish I didn’t, if only for a chance to change your mind on this.”

The droid felt surprise at how much he’d really meant these words. Suddenly, he realized that his fear of Vader had… well, if not vanished, then lessened to the point where it wasn’t really bothering him anymore. This was a welcome change, although he wasn’t sure what exactly had caused it.

Instead of carrying on with the conversation like C-3PO had expected him to, Vader clasped his hands behind his back and proceeded to pace slowly around the droid, studying him in silent contemplation. Concerned by the odd change in behavior, C-3PO quietly wondered whether he should just thank the former Sith for his time and leave his presence. Afraid or not, he still couldn’t say that he very much enjoyed Vader’s company, and would rather not find himself in his immediate vicinity.

Just as the droid was about to finally act on his intentions, Vader suddenly raised his gloved hand and made a quick waving motion in the air.

C-3PO watched in shock as his own arms instantly dropped down to his sides, pressed tightly against his body as if caught in an invisible vice. Before he was able to process what was going on, Vader once again waved his hand at him, and the droid heard the hatch on his back fly open.

And just like that, the fear was back. “What are you doing?!” C-3PO cried out in panic, struggling to release himself from the unseen grasp, but to no avail. “Stop it immediately! This is a blatant violation of—”

“Silence,” Vader commanded as he began to tinker inside the droid.

“If you intend to use my parts for your little engineering project here, then rest assured, the New Republic will not tolerate—”

“Unless you wish to find out what sort of sound your speech module produces as it gets crushed into dust,” Vader said, ominously, “you _will_ keep quiet.”

Suddenly sensing a very real threat behind the words, C-3PO obliged, but not before letting out a quiet ‘oh dear’.

The tinkering proceeded to go on for quite some time as the droid kept himself distracted by calculating his odds of survival. Those turned out to be rather grim, so C-3PO started entertaining the idea of yelling at the top of his nonexistent lungs in hopes of being heard by someone who could attempt to save him from his untimely demise. However, he didn’t get to put his plan into action, for his intentions were interrupted by a loud click as Vader flicked one of his many inner switches. In an instant, the droid’s eyes flashed as his head snapped up, now staring straight at the wall in front of him.

“Entered developer mode,” C-3PO stated in a flat, neutral tone.

“Administrative rights permission request,” said Vader, fists planted on his hips.

“Please submit your access code.”

For a moment the former Sith looked aside, as if lost in thought. “ASW-5199,” he provided after some hesitation.

A soft whirring noise came from somewhere inside the droid as he took his time to process the input. “Permission granted,” finally said C-3PO. “System access level: maker.”

“Execute protocol M-012.”

There was another pause followed by an even longer string of whirring noises. “Internal memory backup activated successfully,” C-3PO announced. “All recovered data has been added to the banks.”

Satisfied, Vader nodded. “Initiate system reboot,” he said and closed the hatch.

Following the command, the droid’s head dropped down, his eyes going dark. A few moments later, they lit up again and C-3PO looked up to find Vader standing in front of him, quiet and still as he gazed back at the droid.

“What just happened?” C-3PO asked, looking around the room in confusion. His focus then shifted to examining his arms and legs, now free of the invisible grasp. “Ah, good, all my parts still seem to be in place. Did you…” Suddenly stopping himself mid-sentence, the droid fell silent before stammering out, “Wait, I… I remember…”

Tilting his head, C-3PO stared quietly at the former Sith who regarded the droid in the same fashion.

“Master Ani?” he asked tentatively.

A short, poignant silence fell between them, disturbed only by even mechanized breaths. C-3PO watched as Vader clenched and unclenched his fists a couple of times before finally answering, “Yes.”

“But… but you are—!” Out of the billions of words known to C-3PO, suddenly none seemed sufficient or accurate enough to express his thoughts about the situation at hand. “Oh, oh dear… but if you are here, then… Mistress Padmé!” he exclaimed in realization. “She’s… oh, what a terrible, terrible tragedy! How in the galaxy did all of this happen?! This is—”

“—a waste of my time,” Anakin growled. In one quick motion he slashed the air with his hand, causing C-3PO to turn around swiftly in place. “I warned you of the consequences,” he said in exasperation, slamming open the hatch on the droid’s back. “Be still. I’ll revert the memory banks back to their previous state and—”

“Oh, no! Please don’t!” Throwing his hands up in the air, C-3PO recoiled abruptly as he hurried to put some space between himself and Anakin. The latter froze up in place, seemingly taken aback by the droid’s resistance. “Believe me, master, there is no need for this!” C-3PO insisted, turning around to face his maker. “This… this is indeed quite a shock for my poor circuits, but… nevertheless, I still stand by what I said before.”

After a few tense seconds, Anakin straightened up and placed his hands over his belt, which the droid interpreted as having been allowed to continue.

“You were correct, master,” C-3PO began, giving him a short nod. “I do remember the tragedies, and it all does seem rather overwhelming at first. It is… indeed sad to know that some of my friends are now gone, and I do miss them. And yet, I also get to remember why we became friends in the first place. It allows me to appreciate the knowledge I gained through others, and the experiences I was part of… and that is something I feel rather good about. Without all these memories, I was only half the droid I’m supposed to be. And I would very much dislike to trade them for blissful ignorance.”

As he finished, C-3PO looked expectantly at the black figure in front of him, still silent and unmoving. In his mind he was already preparing for a drawn-out debate, forming all sorts of arguments to further defend his point; but it all proved itself unnecessary when his master chose to give up on the discussion before it even started.

“Very well.” Anakin walked back to the bench and retrieved his hydrospanner, turning his attention back to the speeder. “Now leave.”

“Of course, Master Anakin,” said C-3PO with a small, respectful bow. “Please forgive me for distracting you from your work, but I just want to let you know how much I appreciate what you did for me today. I am very lucky to have you back with me as my maker.”

Sitting sideways to C-3PO, Anakin seemed to bend even lower over the exposed engine of the craft, making no effort to further acknowledge the droid.

“Oh, I can’t wait to tell Master Luke about this,” C-3PO went on gleefully, oblivious to his maker’s disregard. “You know, we’ve had quite a few fights about whether it is safe for him to maintain such a close relationship with you. It does sound silly now, of course, but from my perspective, I was simply looking out for him. Although I fear I might’ve been too critical in the most recent case, when he told me that I wouldn’t know anything about having a father. He was kind enough to apologize right away, too, even though I never took offence in the first place.” The droid paused, struck with a realization, and then concluded enthusiastically, “I’m sure Master Luke will be delighted to learn that I am now able to relate to his feelings with regard to you, sir.”

Having turned towards the exit, C-3PO didn’t notice how Anakin froze motionless at the words, his grip on the tool tightening.

The droid almost made it out of the room when he heard the mechanized voice calling out to him from behind.

“Wait. Threepio.”

Stopping at the doors, C-3PO turned around and tilted his head with an inquiring look.

“I’ve noticed that your technical performance levels appear to be below optimal,” Anakin said, not looking at him. “When did you last undergo maintenance?”

“Three months and fourteen days ago, if I’m not mistaken,” C-3PO replied eagerly. “It’s certainly been longer than I would’ve liked. Ah, but please don’t think this is Master Luke’s fault—he’s simply had his hands full recently. I assure you, he has been taking very good care of both me and Artoo!”

“He has indeed,” Anakin murmured, tapping the hydrospanner idly against the palm of his hand. “And while he is preoccupied, I suppose I could see to it that all of your systems function correctly.” Turning his mask to the side, he let his gaze sweep the droid over. “Perhaps a few upgrades are also in order,” he mused.

“Oh, that would be wonderful, Master Ani!” C-3PO exclaimed, overjoyed by the prospect. “Now that I think about it, my joints do seem to be a bit rusty, and it _has_ been a while since I’ve had a proper oil bath…”

“I… shall consider it,” Anakin said slowly, nodding as if to prove the sincerity of his promise. “Regardless, I’ll be expecting you here tomorrow at seventeen hundred hours. Do not be late.” After some contemplation, he added, “And take Artoo with you. I promised him that I would reinstall his rocket boosters.”

Any oil bath-related daydreams C-3PO might have started having suddenly came to a grinding halt. “Rocket boosters?!” he exclaimed, hardly believing his audio receptors. “If you ask me, sir, allowing Artoo to have them back will only encourage his delusions of grandeur!”

“Good,” said Anakin and turned away from the droid, resuming his work.

C-3PO stared silently at his master as his vocal analyzers picked up a new, yet all-too-familiar emotion in the modified voice, unmistakably identified by him as ‘amusement’.

Well. If he had required any actual proof that he was indeed speaking to his maker, that would certainly have been it.

“Master,” C-3PO hurried to say, shaking his head in disapproval, “I really don’t think this is a good—”

His words were cut off by a held-up hand. “I will see you tomorrow, Threepio,” said Anakin as he waved dismissively at the droid, voice still carrying the same emotion.

In that moment, C-3PO had half a mind to go and start a long tirade consisting of complaints and concerns of varying validity, wondering why he always had to be the responsible one among all of them… but something made him decide against it. Yet again, he found himself welcomed by that strange, familiar feeling of being home; now even more intense and palpable as he looked at the dark figure before him, equally strange and familiar.

It was then when he remembered how a long time ago, he had been tasked with accompanying a young senator and her Jedi bodyguard on their diplomatic mission to a small, remote planet in the Outer Rim. The world’s abundance of resources had drawn the attention of Separatist forces, threatening to wipe out a tribe of peaceful natives that’d been unfortunate enough to get caught in the crossfire between the two warring sides. On behalf of the Republic, the creatures had been offered a chance to escape the planet and find a new home in another system, to which they’d instantly agreed—much to C-3PO’s surprise. In his experience, these kind of talks would usually take much more time or fail altogether, since living beings were often too attached to their homelands, reluctant to leave them even in the face of mortal danger. Curious, C-3PO had voiced his thoughts to the tribe’s elder, to which the latter had simply smiled and said:

_Home is people; not a place._

And if the wisdom of those creatures was to be trusted, then… well, perhaps then it was possible for droids to have a home after all.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys, it's been a while since the last story so I thought I'd give you a quick update. Real life and other things keep getting in the way, but I want to assure you that this project is not abandoned—I am still working on it, even if just means writing 100-200 words every other day or so. In fact, I have several active WIPs at the moment! First, it's the Vader & Ahsoka story which looks to be about 90% complete, clocking in at 6k+ words right now. The second one is an angsty Vader & Luke story with Vader's POV, which needs more work since it's about 50% complete. Finally, it's the Vader & Leia story, which is unfortunately just a few lines of dialogue/paragraphs written down, so it still needs a ton of work—although I do have it completely planned out in my head which is a plus. I also have a non-AU WIP about Vader a few days after Episode 3 which I feel very excited about, and it's sitting at around 50% right now as well. There's also a ton of other cool ideas, including a Vader & Luke camping trip style-story, a story about Vader and the Force Ghosts, and more. Every view/kudos/comment from you is very motivating, so thank you all and see you next time :D


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